Monday, July 26, 2010

Homemade Flour Tortillas: My Take on It

It's not that expensive to buy a 10-pack of premade whole wheat flour tortillas. Generally, I can get good quality tortillas for about $3.00 a bag. But when every dollar counts, and you really want to be sure you know what you're feeding your family, it's best to make your own. Making flour tortillas is easy, believe it or not. It requires only a few ingredients and less than 30 minutes of your time. You can make your tortillas while your filling is cooking and by the time it's ready, your tortillas will be done as well.

Lots of home cooks make flour tortillas, and they all have slightly different methods. Here's the method that works best for me. It uses ingredients I'm okay using and it's never failed me.

Flour Tortillas (Half White / Half Wheat)
Makes 14 to 16 fajita-size tortillas

What You Need:
  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 5 Tbsp butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
  • about 1 1/2 cups cool water (maybe slightly more, maybe slightly less)
How it's Done:
  1. Combine flours, salt, and baking powder.
  2. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips. Once the butter pieces are smaller than peas, add the water. Stir to combine.
  3. Knead the dough a few times, until it is a smooth ball. Let it rest a few minutes.
  4. Divide the dough into 14 to 16 even portions. Roll each out on a lightly floured surface.
  5. Heat a dry skillet over medium to medium high heat (medium if using stainless steel skillet). Drop a tortilla in, cooking it 30 seconds or so on each side.
  6. Move tortillas to a plate and cover them with a clean towel while you finish cooking them. Store them tightly covered to keep them soft.

15 comments:

Joann said...

Hi, I live with a Mexican man ( my honey) and he would know instantly if there was wheat in his tortilla, he knows his food well!! But I still liked the post!
jbdownie5@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

I love making homemade tortillas, but since we eat tortillas almost every week, and having to deal with fibromyalgia pain, I have decided to wait until I can get a tortilla press before I make anymore. Yours look great though!

Amy said...

These look awesome, I still haven't attempted tortillas yet but I'm definitely going to soon! How many inches in diameter are these do you think?

Michelle said...

Hi Joann: I notice it, too...and prefer it. lol Does he like just plain white best, or do you mean he only likes corn tortillas? :)

April: tortilla presses don't work very well with flour tortillas. :( They're too stretchy for the press. But you can make some wonderful corn tortillas with them! I'm sorry you live with fibro. That's rough. :(

Amy, they're about 6" across or so. Definitely give it a go. They're so much better than store-bought.

Ferreh Hiatt said...

I love wheat tortillas, but all of the recipes that I had seen were for corn or white flour ones. Definitely going to have to try this one out!

PACountryMouse said...

Thanks for the post! I've been meaning to try to make my own tortilla's & I love that your ingredients are all ones I already keep on hand.

Unknown said...

I love homemade tortillas. I never actually make them myself, gonna have to give it a try! You always make it sound so easy :)

Tractor Mom said...

Thanks so much for the recipe! I have been wanting to try making my own torillas. This is my que to try!

Come by when you can...

www.frugaltractormom.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Do these freeze well? Love that it's stuff I have on hand right now!

Michelle said...

Hi greenfrugalmama, they sure do. Make sure they're dry (they form condensation when they cool off) and wrap them well. They'll keep wonderfully in the freezer. Thanks for stopping by!

Mhel said...

tortillas are staple in my kitchen. i actually prefer them over pitas. I just have a question, can i use bread flour in lieu of wheat flour?

Michelle said...

Yes, you sure can. I use whole wheat pastry flour when I have it. This is a versatile recipe. If you're using bread flour, you'll have slightly sturdier tortillas, as bread flour has an increased protein content. But they'll turn out fine.

Lacey said...

Thanks for posting this, it looks super duper easy :)

sam said...

I made these yesterday along with your burrito recipe except for I made one change....instead of adding the beans to the beef mixture I made your refried bean recipe and I put a scoop down on the tortilla sprinkled a little cheese on top and added the beef mixture and finally topped it with a couple of tablespoons of cheese. These were a big hit in our house. today I am making your turkey burgers with the soft rolls I have saved so much money cooking the way you do thank you! You are an inspiration!

Michelle said...

Thank you Sam. You're too kind. :)

*NEW!* Stay current on what's cooking!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails